CRAFT

My love for paper only grows. Paper is one of the most versatile materials that I know. You can make anything out of paper.

Here's a little toy that I made for Diego. I built the body with strong paper and then I painted on it with watercolors.

Diego was so excited to see it! His eyes were wide open with an expression of fascination. Then, with his funny little loud voice he said: Hey Mom! Can I crush it? Natalie jumped from her chair and said: Are you kidding? And he said: NO. Of course he wasn't kidding, but the whole story had a happy ending. I taught Diego a way to play with it pacifically. You push the top and the bunny jumps a little bit.

I asked Diego why he wanted to crush the toy and he said: because I'm so strong! So I asked him: How did you get so strong Diego? And he said: because I drink whole grain water!!!

I'm telling you, there isn't a toy on planet Earth that is as fun as Diego is. This thing about the whole grain water made Natalie and I laugh for an eternity! :) :) :)

ps. Diego is not aggressive at all, he has never been thank God. He's just very honest. Diego says exactly what is in his mind.

Remember how a long time ago I talked about my brand new kiln that I named Rojo? Believe it or not that was in 2010, two years ago! Well, today is the lucky day when my beautiful kiln is finally starting to come to life. My brother Alex is here from Florida on a mission: to install my beloved Rojo, so I can finally use it.

Yay!!! We just came back from Home Depot where we got all the elements for the installation. We took the kids with us. While my brother was doing all the serious work finding the parts I put Natalie and Diego in a cart and took them for a ride all over the place. They were in heaven. Natalie said that we were in a movie set. Diego said: This is not a movie set, this is Disneyland!. The thing is that they found Home Depot to be a fun place. I totally agree, it's one of my favorite places ever.

Now as I write this post my brother is starting the installation, it takes a lot of work. We expect to be done by tomorrow or Monday. Yay!!!!! I am soooo happy!!!!

2012 has been such a busy year for me so far! Bill's Mom is visiting. We haven't stopped doing things every single day. Bill came back from his trip to Europe. Natalie and Diego have more homework this year so they need more support from me (they're both doing really well!).

Picture: A little advance of my latest miniature book. The title is: Visionary. I can't wait to finish it.

Everything is great except that the lights inside my head are always on. That means that I cannot sleep well because I am sooooo inspired this year! I turn off the lights in my bedroom at night so I can go to sleep but then I cannot turn off the lights inside my head. I can't stop thinking about what I want to make as soon as I have time. This sounds positive but the problem is that I wake up so tired. Getting a good sleep is very important. I need my brain to slow down at night instead of the opposite.

But I have great news! I got a super nice app for my iPad and it's really helping. It is a beautiful voice telling you all the right things so your brain can finally take it easy and let go. When I use it I fall asleep easily. Well, that's exactly the name of the app: Sleep Easily. Now I have to convince my brain to use it more often. You know how it works, sometimes you REALLY want to do something but your brain refuses to follow the plan. Making our brain do what we want will always be a work in progress :)

Everybody has a mission in life. The mission of these five amigos is to make people smile :) Each member of this family is one of a kind, but there is something that they all have in common: their ear-to-ear smile.

I know that scientists have been studying the response of human brain to smile. It seems like smiling has some super powers. But you don't need to be a scientist to know that. Here is a simple experiment that someone did on his way to work.

These five amigos have been making me smile for several months. They have been sitting close to my computer desk for a while. It amazes me how happy they are all the time. I haven't seen any of them cry or have a serious face, ever. I wonder what their secret is ;)

After doing such a great job in my studio I have granted these five amigos permission to move in with a new owner. If you would like to adopt any of them just let me know. The adoption fee is $55 per amigo. Just drop me an e-mail @ elsammora@gmail.com

This is a bee brooch that I made last year using linen as the base fabric. For the wings I used some vintage trim that was just perfect for this project.The piece is now in my personal collection.

The other day I met a stubborn bee while I was washing the dishes. She was convinced that if she pushed hard enough she could get through the glass of my kitchen window. The window was open but this little bee kept trying to find the best place to get through the glass. I ended up giving her a hand so she could go back to work. She said something like: Bzzzz. I think that that means "thanks a lot" in bee language :)

Yay! Here is the finished fox pin. The circumference of this piece measures about 2" (5cm). I made a small edition of 6. One will stay with me and 5 will be available on my Etsy shop. They look so beautiful in person. The unusual color combination works really perfect. I'm wearing mine right now and I love it.

Something that I learned from my papercut technique on polymer clay is that it has unlimited possibilities. On the other hand you can only use the original papercut about 6 or 7 times because it gets destroyed quickly, but that makes the small editions even more special. You also need to be very careful when lifting the paper from the clay, it's best to use a needle. I can't wait to keep experimenting with this technique. Yay!!

These are the tools that I use the most in my ebroidery projects. They have been such great workers that I built them a nice house to live in when they're not working. I have a deal with the cat on the cover. If he sees Diego approaching he has to say meeeooowwww. I know that Diego is secretly planning to run away with my book, he likes it a lot. :o